Women in Chemistry
Women in Chemistry C
harlotte Allerton is Chief Scientific Officer, Anti-Infectives, and Head of Medicine Design at Pfizer, where the oral therapeutic for COVID-19, Paxlovid, was discovered. !"#$%&'()
Like so many, Charlotte Allerton was inspired to pursue her chemistry degree by a particularly dynamic teacher at school. At the University of Nottingham, Charlotte developed a deep love of both organic chemistry and mathematics, but, upon graduation these two loves meant Charlotte was torn between pursuing a career as an actuary (maths) or in the pharmaceutical industry (chemistry). A visit to Pfizer in Kent clinched her decision: “I was attracted to the practical nature of the work and its link between the chemistry I’d learned and the potential to benefit human health,” she says.
Starting with Sandwich Charlotte’s career with Pfizer started at the Sandwich site in Kent where she worked in synthesis technologies. She then worked on medicinal chemistry programmes at sites in the UK and Japan (“an incredible experience”), before moving to Connecticut in 2012 to become Head of Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics & Metabolism (PDM). “PDM is really about how our body deals with drug molecules,” she explains. Since 2016, Charlotte has been based at Pfizer’s Cambridge, Massachusetts site as Head of Medicine Design, which she describes as a combination of medicinal chemistry, PDM, and Discovery Sciences, and where Charlotte’s experience, in-depth knowledge, and leadership have contributed to the successful design of many of Pfizer’s oral therapeutics.
Accepting the Heroes of Chemistry award on behalf of Pfizer’s Medicine Design team.
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